One of the top schools in the Motheo Region, which also houses the only registered matric rewrite centre in Bloemfontein, The Academy of Excellence, will be moving to world-class educational facilities at the Raceway Park development on the N8 corridor in January 2020.
This has recently been announced by CEO of the Edulife Group, Hansie Engelbrecht, who said that the move would happen in phases. “We are extremely excited to announce the move from our current premises in Batho,” he said.
He added that the move was prompted by the availability of space. “We needed to be able to create and develop proper facilities, including sports facilities, growth opportunity and safety for our children, especially with hostels, and Raceway Park is more residential. The buildings that we are in at the moment don’t belong to us, so there is no space there to develop and we have no sports facilities at present,” he added.
The 22-year-old subsidised independent school is currently situated in Batho, and caters to over 1000 learners. The move will allow for expansion, which will in turn help ease the pressure on the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) to accommodate all learners in the province.
“Among the facilities envisioned at the new buildings are extended sport fields for a variety of sports, including swimming. Robotics, science and mathematics labs are planned to help learners become full participants in the technology revolution taking place. The school will also develop hostel facilities,” added Engelbrecht.
The news was well received as there will be no increase in fees. “As we don’t have proper sports facilities on that side of the town and the idea is really to make it a top sports school and to get facilities that are up to scratch with the rest of the town,” he added.
Willie Havenga, newly appointed rector of Academy of Excellence School, affirmed that the Christian ethos and values that have made the school the success it is today, will remain and be built on in the future. “My vision is greatness, achieved through excellence and faith in everything we do,” he said.
The last phase of the move is expected to be completed by 31 December 2020. The existing premises in Batho will be used to expand the Academy Matric Rewrite Centre and the future establishment of the Academy Trade School.
The Academy Matric Rewrite Centre is the only centre registered. “Over a hundred learners are rewriting subjects and we are the only rewrite centre with the Department of Education that is registered and we are going to expand that because it is very central.
And then, secondly, we aim to open an Academy Trade School there, for which there is a big need in the community in terms of grade 8 high school development, especially with the new grade 9 certificates coming out, to assist the learners to learn a trade and get jobs,” concluded Engelbrecht.
Seithati Semenokane
seithati@centralmediagroup.co.za
